Write an Abstract for a Thesis or Dissertation
When you read any scientific paper or journal article for your thesis or dissertation, what is the first thing that draws your attention? Do you read the entire thing or the small paragraph at the start of the paper or article called ‘Abstract’? If you read just that, it is a wise move on your part. The Abstract is the heart and soul of any research paper or journal article, even for that matter a thesis or dissertation. Why so? Let’s find out. Know tips to Write an Abstract for a Thesis or Dissertation.
Whether you need Thesis Writing Help or Dissertation Writing Help, Let us know.
Why is Abstract so much important?
An essential part of any thesis or dissertation that many students tend to overlook is the Abstract itself. You should know which factors to avoid while writing a research paper and which ones to take into account. It is a must for the students or researchers because the Abstract holds the key to the argument you make in your thesis or dissertation. Any person who reads your thesis or dissertation will decide to read it only when finding your Abstract relevant and written to address that particular research area.
We also know that it will not be entirely possible to read the whole thesis or dissertation because of its sheer length, so you know what people will read? Of course, the Abstract! Without a well-written and informative Abstract, you will not attract the right kind of academic audience or receive scholarly attention to your work.
WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF AN ABSTRACT?
If you have read Abstracts of other papers and articles, you might think that an Abstract consists of a few sentences, then the structure for an Abstract does not make sense. But this small amalgamation of a few sentences at the start of your thesis or dissertation follows a structural pattern that one needs to consider.
The Abstract is around three hundred to five hundred words, but logic is followed while writing the Abstract for the thesis or dissertation. You will need to introduce your field of research, the knowledge gap that you found followed by your objectives or research questions, the methods used to achieve specific results, and finally conclude with how you contributed to the field of knowledge.
Smart and Quick Tips to Write the Abstract
Now, with the idea of the structure of an Abstract, you might be overwhelmed with the amount of information you have to convey in just a limited number of words. An Abstract that is written within the expected word limit while bringing the right amount of data is considered a good Abstract as the most suitable one. As students and future academicians, this art is something you need to imbibe and keep nourishing throughout your academic life. For your convenience, we put forth specific smart tips to write an Abstract that you can follow and share with your colleagues.
DO READ ABSTRACTS OF OTHER ARTICLES/PAPERS
The first step toward writing a good abstract for your thesis or dissertation is to read the Abstracts of other articles and papers. In this way, you will get to know the style of writing an Abstract and how the Abstracts are usually structured in your field of study.
LEARN TO BE CONCISE AND PRECISE
With a limited number of words to write, you have to make sure that you carefully choose every word of your Abstract. So, no matter how interesting a knowledge fact you have observed, avoid mentioning it if it is not directly relevant to your thesis or dissertation.
INTRODUCE NEW IDEAS IN NEW SENTENCES
Every sentence in your Abstract should bring in new ideas and information related to each aspect of the structure that has been discussed before. Write two sentences on the broad area of research, then move on to two sentences on the knowledge gap and so on. Try to write the sentences in a self-explanatory way.
TRY YOUR HAND AT REVERSE OUTLINING
As we know, an Abstract is a summarised version of your thesis or dissertation; reverse outlining might help you write a good Abstract. For this, you need to revisit all your chapters and summarise them in 2-3 sentences while using keywords and making sure that the central arguments of each chapter are written down. Once this is done, revise all sentences to create a flow of discussion for the Abstract.
JUST PROVIDE FACTUAL INFORMATION
An essential element of an Abstract is that it should remain factual. You might have your opinions and thoughts to share, but that is done in your thesis or dissertation conclusion. So, avoid sharing ideas and personal reflections in your Abstract because otherwise, it will lack structure and might even become highly vague to the readers.
THE ABSTRACT SHOULD REMAIN FOCUSED ON YOUR RESEARCH
Your research work will be built on another person’s research or adopt the ideas or theories from others’ works. But that does not mean that you need to mention that at length in the Abstract. References are not that necessary in the Abstract.
FOLLOW FORMATTING GUIDELINES
Experts dealing in writing research papers take special care of formatting and several related factors. If you have followed an In-Text Citation or a particular format for your thesis or dissertation like APA, Chicago, MLA, etc., you should go through the guidelines for their specific Abstract writing as well. It will make your Abstract clearer and more authentic too. With all these guidelines, you will better understand what you need to write and let go of in the Abstract.
EDIT, REVISE, AND EDIT
The first time you write the Abstract, it might not be perfect. You need to learn to edit and revise that again and edit it several times before you get a satisfactory result out of your writing.
Do a quick peer review if possible! For this, you can show your draft Abstract to some of your colleagues and see whether they understand what you have written. You can ask them to give you their comments on how to improve your Abstract. You can then work on enhancing the quality of your Abstract to make it as per the specific requirement.
Writing the best Abstract for your thesis or dissertation
As you can very well understand that writing a good Abstract requires a lot of patience, dedication, and capacity. Instead of viewing it as a challenge, we at SEO Content India would like to make your work easier by helping you develop the best Abstract for your thesis and dissertation to ease your academic research journey.
